I finally had a chance to check out the 987S in detail during lunch break. Now keep in mind that I own a ‘04 S which has an improved interior, glass rear widow, glovebox and other little improvements over the ’02 and older models so my opinion might be different than that of a ’97-‘02 owner. So with that said, I was not entirely impressed. Matter of fact, I’d say I was disappointed. I expected improvements. What I noticed were just changes, and not all of them for the better.
So what did I like and didn’t like?
Let’s start with the exterior:
The side vents really are MR2’ish. My coworker who tagged along also mentioned this before I even said anything. They are large and in-your-face and sort of look “tacked on”. I think if they were body-colored they would look much better. The optional 19” wheels were on the car and these were also in-your-face gaudy. They aren’t really ugly but they’re not exactly cool looking either.
Walking to the front, the new front end looks damn good. Matter of fact, the teardrop headlights look much better than the 997’s round/oval lights. But again, I still prefer the fried-egg Litronic lights of the 986 when coupled with the Aerokit bumper. Without Aerokit I’d give the nod to the 987.
The back end of the car is another story. The rear lights look sort of chopped in, for lack of a better word. There’s a weird line that drops down the rear quarter panel to the wheel well (where the rear lights mate up to the body). It doesn’t look as fluid as the 986’s rear that has a horizontal line.
So now onto the interior:
First thing I notice upon opening the door is that the door itself is incredibly flat and boring. The speaker grills are an absolute eyesore. The storage cubby in the door is small and flat. The door pull is flat. Matter of fact, this “flat” theme is carried throughout the interior with the center stack, center console, glovebox, and dash. I know that they did this to mimic the old 911 interior (which I’m definitely not a fan of) but why couldn’t they keep the Boxster’s progressive? The organic shapes of the 986 are so much better. It might be blasphemous to say, but I can’t stand the 993’s interior. I thought Porsche made great strides with the 986/996 interior but now it looks like they’re regressing. I guess it’s cheaper to tool up the same thing for both cars so we’re stuck with this interior.
And for all the hoopla about improved materials, I just don’t see it. Maybe improved over the early year Boxsters but I’d say it’s equivalent to my ’04 in some areas and even inferior in others. A lot of the pieces were painted silver such as the gigantic arm on each side of the seats, the seatback lever, the door handles, etc. However, the paint had a very high gloss to them. It makes the parts look very plasticy and cheap. I don’t know if this had the “silver painted” interior and that standard is still a soft-touch paint. I think the soft-touch looks much better.
The standard seats were nothing to get excited about. I’ve got the sportseats and they look much better with the perforations in the leather.
The steering wheel is…friggen ugly. It looks like it was lifted from a Chrysler Sebring or something. Again, the silver accents on either side are really an eyesore.
The new gauge cluster is much improved. Gone is the cheap-looking amber backlight in the 986, now replaced with a cool blue color. Personally, I prefer BMW’s reddish color for legibility at night though. Also, the digital speedo is located in the center instead of the left.
The turn signal and wiper stalks are definitely an improvement. But then again, it’s hard to make them any worse than what’s on the 986. I can almost swear I’m going to break off the turn stalk everytime I use my blinkers.
Window switches have been moved to the doors and I’m not a big fan of that. I like them on the center console. It’s a lot more ergonomic for me to be driving with my left hand, shifting with my right and being able to quickly hit the window switches. Small detail…but it’s the details that make a good car great.
The cupholder must be a running joke at Porsche. Not only is it even more complicated than in my ’04, but it seems even more flimsy. And now both cupholders are directly above the glovebox. Great if you’re a double-fisted drinking passenger. Bad if you’re the driver.
The much-touted “shorter throw” gearbox is still long and ropey. The 15% reduction for the S means nothing and pales against the B&M in my car. The 987S will still need a short throw shifter. I didn’t get a chance to try out the Base model with a claimed 25% reduction in throw so I can’t comment on that gearbox.
The rearview mirror, sun visors, rear seatback hooks and glovebox latch seem to be all carryover from the 986.
My coworker said it best after we got done dissecting the 987. He said that the interior looks like it was lifted from a Japanese car. It just has a very sterile, boring feel to it.
So how did the car drive? I don’t know. I ran out of time and had to go back to work.
But regardless, short of having a 340hp motor I would not part with my 986. To me, there are as many annoying things (if not more) than there are improvements. I will say that everything here is nitpicking since I already own a 986. The 987 is still a very nice car. So there you have it. Just my humble opinion, your mileage might vary, yada yada yada.